German Medics Fail to Identify Cause of Pussy Riot Activist Verzilov’s Poisoning

04:37 GMT, 27 September 2018

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – German medics have failed to identify a specific substance which caused the poisoning of Pyotr Verzilov, a Russian activist and a member of the Pussy Riot group, the German Charite clinic, where Verzilov received treatment, said.

Sputnik

On Wednesday, a Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova said Verzilov had been discharged from the hospital.

"Toxicology tests have not yet shown a certain substance that caused [the poisoning]. As before, the Charite clinic is maintaining contacts with Moscow clinics to receive any information about Verzilov’s preliminary treatment, if necessary," the Charite CEO, Karl Max Einhaupl, said in a statement, published on Wednesday.

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Verzilov leaped into the spotlight in July when he and three other activists ran onto the pitch wearing fake police uniforms during the FIFA World Cup final in Moscow.

Earlier in September, Verzilov was hospitalized in Moscow after he said he was losing sight, hearing and ability to walk. The activist was subsequently taken to Germany for treatment.

Verzilov suggested in an interview published on Wednesday that he had been poisoned by Russia’s intelligence service. The activist added that the authorities might have been angry at him for disrupting the soccer game or for his plans to investigate the recent murder of three Russian journalists in the Central African Republic.